Just off to one side of an open courtyard facing the forest is an empty classroom, converted into a play area with blankets and a bed and too many half-shredded dog toys. The room is still stone, unable to be spelled into something softer with the citadel’s protective wards still running, but the walls have an ocean painted on them.

Why an ocean when this is a room for a werewolf? Ask Stavros, because Nicholas has no idea how the room ended up like this. Nicholas made a giant dog bed, he remembers that much, and then they accumulated toys over the last several years.

This room is still far too small for a werewolf, but they can’t just let Rafael stay out constantly, not with night-time astronomy classes or the occasional student wandering past curfew. Even a glimpse of a werewolf can alert the magpol because having the disease is enough to be put into ‘quarantine’ - and that’s even if the boys can keep the werewolf from killing anyone because he loses his mind when the moon pulls on him.

This is better though, far better to be caged than for Rafael to OD on the cocktail of drugs that his mum cobbled together just so the wolf can’t move, makeshift tranquilisers that leave Rafael sick and out of it for days after.

Nicholas’ wildshape is a large wild-breed sheep, currently lying curled up with his legs underneath him in a blanket nest. He’s a hair breed, except it’s still winter enough that he hasn't shed his wool coat and is currently extra fluffy. His head and the thick mane of hair around his shoulders and chest is pitch black, the rest of his body dark reddish brown with streaks of light tan down his back and lower legs.

He's built strong and stocky, with massive curling horns that slick backwards and curl back up to end by his jawline, the horns full of neatly patterned ridges and dark brown, some parts chipped away from bitemarks.

Sheep are surprisingly big, which none of the boys knew before Nicholas first learned to wildshape and was able to headbutt Stavros in the chest when the jerk tried to name him Sheppard's Pie. This was after Rafael verified he wasn't a goat, and after Adam laughed himself silly at the thought of a sheep trotting after a wolf every full moon. They named him Saporito and Nicholas agreed because it sounded nice and Rafael didn’t tell him that it translated to savoury, the Italian bastard, so now they’ve shortened it to Rito.

Slumped over Rito’s flank is a werewolf, elongated strangely with sharply jutting bones, legs too long and tipped with large claws, a short silver coat and gold eyes. In this form as Thoth, all of Rafael’s self-made scars blend into his sparse fur. Thoth is sleepy since Nicholas and Stavros forced Rafael to stay up last night so Thoth would get hit with sleep deprivation and stay calmer. They knew they’d be locked in for most of the full moon tonight with the Extension Herbology class out and about.

Rito is just drifting off to sleep, still alert as all sheep are with his eyes half open, but fading enough to get some rest in. Thoth bites down on Rito's left horn and starts lazily chewing like a dog with a bone. Rito bleats in annoyance, short tail wiggling, and Thoth lets go with a chuff.

There's a sudden scrambling of claws on stone and Stavros’ fox form slides down into the hidden room from another entrance in one corner -they had to chip that out the mundane way because of the wards- specifically made because it’s too small to fit Thoth so he can’t escape.

There’s a door, locked magically and split from the courtyard by a short hallway just for extra room to layer wards for protection and privacy. But even if it was just a normal door, a sheep and a fox would have trouble opening and closing it. They can’t shift back into humans either because Thoth would try to gore them, so they made the tunnel just big enough for a teenage boy to use in emergencies.

Hearth barks and the fox walks in an arc, circling the edge of the small room, looking agitated. Rito sits up straighter with a snort but Hearth shakes his head and hops up onto the mattress shoved off to one side to lie down. They named Stavros because when he lies down like right now, his black legs but blazing red coat make him look like a fireplace.

Thoth growls and starts clawing at the blankets in boredom. There’s a loud rip. Rito grunts and twists, using his nose to nudge Thoth back into some cuddling, which always calms down the werewolf, whether he's Rafael or otherwise. Thoth should get in fluffy cuddles before Rito starts shedding his winter coat.

A palm-sized lens is resting on the blanket near Rito, zoomed in to show the herbology garden, occasionally with tiny top-down people moving on and off the modified spyglass. There are still too many people around but maybe later they’ll take out Thoth for a run.

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The next day is a weekend, a rare trip down to the surface -wherever that might be with the floating island drifting around- but unfortunately for Nicholas, his friends have had their privileges revoked for fighting so much. Everyone verified Nicholas was just healing people so he still has permission.

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"We can just nap today," Nicholas offers, wrapped in his thick cloak and leaning one hip against the short stone wall separating the outer courtyard from the walkway they're standing on. He doesn't want to leave them; half the fun is being with friends anyway.

It’ll be cold too. Whatever country they’re over must be close to the poles or in an angry winter, currently made worse by the altitude of the island. Only the inside of the citadel has wards for temperature control and this is an outside courtyard.

"We deserve a fun day," Stavros rejects, straddling the wall despite the freezing stone. His hair is down, a frizzy mess because he towel-dried it, and half tucked into the thick scarf also hiding his chin. "Let's go get smashed on non-alcoholic margaritas and harass some shop assistants."

"You both have detention, and it’s with Connell," Nicholas points out.

Ms Connell won’t chase them down if they skip detention, but she locked the Transverse to their magical signatures so they have to either beg it off her or break the spell linker she keeps in her office. It’s an adventure either way.

"We'll sneak out after you go," Rafael tells Nicholas with his arms crossed to try and retain warmth even with layered charms putting out enough heat to let out wisps of fog. His nose is pink. "It's not like they can give us more detentions - it's basically every weekend."

There’s a brief pause as Nicholas looks at Rafael and wonders if he should say anything. Rafael looks tired and sore from the transformation but still close enough to the full moon that his head is high with confidence when he says this.

Nicholas knows Thoth doesn't really change Rafael’s personality too much but it's pretty obvious that the further away the full moon is, the quieter Rafael gets. He's still smart and kind with an overprotective streak but he suppresses himself, doesn't raise his hand in class as much, and doesn't take the initiative to talk to other students.

This Rafael, however, doesn't think twice about starting fights or ditching well-deserved detentions to sneak out. If he was further from Thoth, he'd probably still do the same, but he'd hesitate and try to talk the other boys out of it - to at least mitigate as much of the damage as possible. Nicholas knows he doesn’t have to be soft right now, but he still hesitates.

"Thoth was…" Nicholas trails off. "Yeah, never mind. I'll wait for you near a random café."

Rafael raises an eyebrow. "Thoth was what?"

Nicholas waves a hand vaguely, making his cloak splay out for a moment. "It's depressing, don't mind me."

Stavros shrugs. "Thoth was looking for Adam’s raccoon last night. Kept thinking he was hiding somewhere, so you'd shove me off the bed and search the blankets."

"Oh," Rafael says blankly. "Strange. Thoth should know better."

Nicholas grimaces. "That night, you were a bit…"

Rafael hesitates and hunches his shoulders. "Yeah, I wasn't...I wasn't there. Thoth was the one in control when Adam died, all I have is the anger."

Nicholas laughs and it comes out pathetic. "Ah, and here's me, thinking I was just overreacting considering how well you guys can still function like normal people."

Stavros scoffs loudly. "Me? Functioning? Wait a few months, it'll come out during alchemy class or something. I don't know what I'll do but it's definitely going to get me expelled."

Rafael offers a thumbs up. "I'll be cheering for you."

Nicholas lets out a breath and pats his cheeks. "Okay, I'll see you guys down there."

"Stay in a crowded area," Stavros lectures. "Or wait, is it stay away from crowds?"

"Keep your wand on you," Rafael tells Nicholas and links arms with Stavros, dragging him off the wall and away because Rafael might be lanky but he has the height advantage. "We'll be out as fast as we can."

"Use NatCom students as meat shields if the RitCast bastards come for you!" Stavros calls back.

Nicholas waves them off with a smile on his face.

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Nicholas has wasted enough time that most of the students and supervising teachers have gone already and there isn’t a line when he reaches the Transverse gateway. This gate is an old-fashioned design of a high stone arch, with one of the citadel’s gargoyles perched on top as security to make sure students don’t change the destination coordinates.

The gargoyle eyes Nicholas suspiciously as he passes underneath. Nicholas winks with a charming grin.

He steps into the empty arch and whooshes through the ley line, instantly popping back out in bright white sparks and a shiver because it’s always so cold in there.

He walks through the small magical district of Chile, which is one of the many countries that hides magical territories from the mundane population, and understands no one because the allspeak wards don’t extend past the floating island. He knows Spanish but not Chilean Spanish and he doesn’t bother using a translator when he’s only going to be talking to his friends.

Nicholas waits for only twenty more minutes sitting at a small table outside a quiet café before he spots Hearth’s bright red head sticking out from around the back corner of the adjacent library.

Nicholas looks around and then hurries off, trotting through a thin layer of snow with the end of his cloak just brushing the ground. Hearth sniggers cutely before ducking away when Nicholas gets closer.

"Did Raffy escape too?" Nicholas whispers.

Nicholas turns the corner and finds Hearth trotting around in a circle, clearly cold even with all that fur. It takes a moment for Nicholas to put his finger on it, but he realises there’s a slight limp in Hearth’s back leg.

"Idiot," Nicholas says fondly and pulls out a wand to cast a diagnostic charm. "What did you do to yourself? And look at how long your fur is getting; we need to give you a haircut."

Hearth bites Nicholas' wand and pulls it away before transforming into a much older man and porting them both with a whoosh.

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Nicholas rips himself away as soon as they land in an unremarkable living room and then dives for his wand in the man's hand.

"Nicky, wait!" the man cries, holding the wand up in the air like Stavros does when he steals Nicholas' food. "Hold on, let me explain about Adam!"

It clicks into place as Nicholas looks up at the man. "It's you?!" he screams, clawing at the man’s arm to get his focus. "You son of a bitch! You murdered my friend!"

"Calm down!" the man yells back, grabbing a fistful of Nicholas’ collar.

Nicholas knees the man in between the legs but gets knocked out with a flare of purple magic.